To express ideas and provoke thought. Trying my best to either write something worth reading or do something worth writing about!

Thursday, 30 January 2014

World League Finals, Spoelstra and the Process

Nameste hockey lovers!

I’m blogging from my hotel room in downtown
Chandigarh ahead of the first match of the 2014 Hockey India League and it’s
fair to say the last few weeks have been pretty hectic.

2014 is not even a month old but it has
already thrown up an interesting situation for my Kookaburra teammates and I…

Today I’ll bring you up to date on what has
happened so far, starting with the World League 4 hockey event, which recently wrapped
up in New Delhi, India.

This tournament was special. Not because we
did overly well but because it marked the first time in my Kookaburra career that
our team wasn’t involved in the medal ceremony at the end of the
tournament. We finished 4th and left Delhi empty handed. So I guess
the question must be asked, are we a team on the decline?

I don’t believe so.

Although disappointed with the result and
especially with how we played in the last two matches, I am not overly worried
with how we are progressing as a team.

We took a relatively young and
inexperienced group to Delhi in the hope of continuing the development of some
of our best and brightest young players. Daniel Beale, Aran Zalewski, Nick
Budgeon, Tyler Lovell and Tristan White all have fewer than 30 international
games to their name and it was a fantastic opportunity for them to play against
some of the world best players in the world’s best sides.

Several mainstays of the national team were
left at home to rest or recover from injuries ahead of a big year. The likes of
Dwyer, Kavanagh, Swann, Butturini, Simpson, Hammond, Gohdes, Ciriello, Charters
and Mitton all demand a place in our Australian team at their best. But who
makes way?

Unfortunately, someone has to miss out and
the next few months will continue to shape the makeup of our final World Cup
side.

How did I feel after the World League
finals?

I guess if I am totally honest, and this
will sound odd, I felt pretty good.

I was relatively happy with certain aspects
of my own game. I am confident I have improved some areas that needed attention
but more importantly recognised many new areas that need work if I am to become
much better.

Now I am a big basketball fan and even
bigger Miami Heat fan. And Miami head coach Erik Spoelstra puts it all into
perspective for me when he says:

"The result of success can poison a lot of things - poison
your perception, poison your motivation, poison your sense of urgency."

This could apply to our Australian team. Over the last six years
we have won almost everything. Only in the last 18 months have we started to
see a dip in our form and results.

Why? Maybe because all the success we have had has poisoned our
group? Maybe we aren’t working hard enough anymore? Maybe we are too
comfortable?

"We have to put success in its proper box and commit to the
process of continuing to get better - specifically, the process of building
from the beginning of camp. Everything does matter," Spoelstra says.

The last line rings true in my ears. Everything does matter.
It’s all about the process!

I viewed the World League tournament as a
stepping-stone to bigger and better things. All part of the ‘process’ of
building an exceptional and outstanding team for the 2014 Hockey World Cup.

I felt the same way about the World League
3 event last year in Rotterdam and will feel the same way about every other
Kookaburra game and training session I take part in until hopefully I am on the
pitch on June 15th this year.

That is when the final of the World Cup
will take place in Holland and this will be what I consider, the final step in
this process.

What is this process all about? Ask our
coach Ric Charlesworth what the number one rule of sports psychology is and he
will answer “process over outcome”.

In essence, this rule encourages us to
focus intently on each and every instance, paying as much attention to each
trap, pass, tackle and goal shot as we can.

It reminds us to remove any lingering
thoughts of the final score or match outcome from our minds when on the field and
concentrate solely on the task at hand.

I have been involved in some big matches
and have been lucky enough to win a fair few. I have also lost some, most notably
the semi-final of the London Olympics last year. Each time the result hasn’t
gone our way; I have always looked at the process and funnily enough, it is
usually what let’s us down. Every now and then you can blame things like bad
luck, injuries/illness or even poor umpiring but usually the blame lies at the
end of our own sticks. The process hasn’t been adhered to.

Spoelstra also talks about not liking the idea of settling into
the same routine, believing change pushes players to become better. This is
exactly what is happening with Kookaburras program at the moment.

The AIS is disbanding. Our strength and conditioning program is
changing. Our coaches are looking for new ways to train and provide feedback.
Our video team is giving us live information and statistics during matches.
Everything is in place for the players to be successful. We just have to work
hard and continue to focus on the process.

I’ll leave you today with a few pics from our time on Delhi. We
visited The Red Fort, hung out at Humayun’s Tomb and then managed to find a
snake charmer in a carpark who scored the crap out of me. So far, the trip has been great!

I’ll be writing again in a few weeks, smack bang in the middle
of the Hockey India League ,which is sure to provide me with some great talking
points, plenty of curry and hopefully some more quality photos.